Porter Report

November 2016 - 3 Well its Dec 2016 already and we are well settled into our home at Murrays Beach on the shores of beautiful Lake Macquarie and looking forward to our first Christmas. The beautiful location, welcoming neighbourhood has meant the big move hasn’t been as traumatic as it could have been. We have made some firm friends and renewed previous ones. We obviously miss friends from our time in Canberra, our political involvement and all those we enjoyed theatre and music with.

Life in the slow lane ... takes some getting used to.: Sailing boat passing our vantage point off the deck.

It’s happened, my husband, Ian De Landelles, and I have finally moved into Murrays Beach NSW on the shores of the lovely Lake Macquarie. I am now an officially retired person!

The first few weeks have been spent unpacking, finding where to put things, hanging our art work and generally making it feel like home. We have been getting to know our neighbourhood, getting acquainted with the local hardware store and discovering the best places to shop.

Getting to meet people who live here is easy when you have a dog, there are many dog owners and dog lovers here, most everyone wants to stop to and chat, ask what Lola’s name is and her history, that’s what dog people are like.

Tradesmen come and go, installing things, fixing issues, delivering stuff, giving advice, all seem friendly and nothing seems too much trouble. Our landscaping started this week, looking forward to having three large planter boxes for my herbs and vegies.

I have joined a book club and we have discovered the local bush care group that helps look after our beautiful natural environment. Residents take the care of the flora and fauna here very seriously. We are blessed with abundant bird life, including a family of Eastern Rosellas who live in hollow in a large gum outside the window of our office, where I sit as I type this missive.

I will shortly meet with the local volunteer fire brigade coordinator hopefully to get involved and Ian has been asked to join a not for profit board and accepted. With the help of a friend involved with the medical profession we have been able to find a local general practitioner and other essential medical personnel, always very important when one is in a new place.
Of course our peaceful environment is the best medicine one could wish for.

We have joined our local ALP branch and are getting involved in preparing for the upcoming federal and local elections and supporting local candidates. The issues here seem very similar to those back in Canberra, such as public transport and waste disposal. All politics are local after all.

The NBN rollout is another bone of contention, we have no internet connection at all yet, relying on prepaid Wi-Fi. Sadly, vandalism is also evident in our lovely lake side estate, with the perpetrators driving in at night, leaving their mark and driving off.

I have been asked to explore ways to grow Restorative Practice here and elsewhere and am making some connections in this regard. I am so proud of the work the ACT Government has begun in creating a Restorative City and hope I can encourage other cities to follow the example, such as Newcastle. I believe that the vandalism I mention above, is a very good example of an issue which could be dealt with in a restorative fashion with very good results possible.

Fell Swoop: This was taken last year in a mounting yard before a race.

It has been good to reconnect with old friends up this way and have them visit. One of our daughters was able to visit for Easter and we hope for many more visitors soon. Being close to Sydney we have been able to drive down to see our horse Fell Swoop, in which we have a share, run and come second in the TG Smith weight for age race, no mean feat for him.

We will be travelling to QLD soon to see him race there in the winter season and catch up with our family and friends in the sunshine state.

Life in the slow lane is all a bit strange and will certainly get some getting used to. However, one can never know what a new experience will be like until you experience it!

Ian and our friend who is visiting from Adelaide went shopping today for his new acquisition, a sleek kayak. He took it for a brief paddle under our friend's watchful eye and managed not to disgrace himself and returned safely.